


The Wheel Turns

by DixieDale



Category: Clan O'Donnell - Fandom, Garrison's Gorillas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 16:42:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21121970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: A long, long time after the end of the war.





	The Wheel Turns

**Author's Note:**

> A long, long time after the end of the war.

He'd been failing for weeks now, they all knew it. The children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews of various degrees, and all the rest had come, spent time, no weeping and wailing, just a true and gentle and loving appreciation of what he meant to them, what they meant to each other.

He'd been the one to broach the subject to Craig, to Meghada.

"There's no need to rush, you know. I'll wait. She said I could, that each of us could if we were truly Bonded, even if one of us went ahead. Said we'd find each other, 'owever long it took between." 

They'd looked at each other, Meghada and Craig, and shared a gentle smile, then looked back at their heart-of-hearts.

"Aye, you'd wait for us, we know that, laddie." 

"But what would we do without you, Goniff? I can't even imagine that, don't WANT to imagine that. No, it's the three of us, it will BE the three of us, you, me, Meghada, just like it was promised."

And he hadn't the strength left to argue with them, in truth didn't really want to. It was time. They curled up next to him, one on each side as they'd done for so long, and waited.

So it was, that with the rising sun, he took one last fond look at the two he had loved for so very long, and so very well, and he closed his eyes and felt himself fade. She'd watched, as had Craig, each giving him one last soft kiss at the (temporary) parting. 

The glass was on the nightstand, and she reached out and took a long sip, not quite half, and waited til Craig reached and took the glass and drank it down to the last drop. 

"The others know?"

"Aye, Craig. They'll come soon, but didn't want to intrude on this moment, which is ours alone. Soon, soon . . ." and for a moment he wasn't sure whether she meant it would be soon when the family would come for them, or soon when they would be reunited with the man who'd been center, their heart of hearts. A look into her eyes showed him the truth of that, and the sadness transformed to eagerness, a rich hope for the future, when they would all be together again. 

"Rest, Craig, that which awaits us, the next Turn of the Wheel, is coming quickly," she murmured with a smile, settling back as she'd been before, resting her cheek against the throat and chest of the man she'd loved for so very long, while reaching out her hand to the man who'd formed the third of their blessed Bonding. 

Craig Garrison took her hand, and did the same, laid his head next to hers, awaiting the new awakening, the next Turn of the Wheel. After all, it had been promised, had been foretold. And together they awaited the rejoining of the three, til the swirling mists dissolved their remaining thoughts.

***  
He rose, shaking himself briskly, settling his pale fur into place. That had been such an odd dream, yet, with the rising of the glowing sun, somehow what was a dream and what was not, it didn't seem so clear. He had an itch, all along his spine, and he flopped over, twisted and spent a luxurious couple of minutes rolling in the clean, dew-laden green grass, finally rising with a satisfied growly purr. Yes, that was better.

Thinking of breakfast, with the intense hunger that usually came to him upon rising, and at frequent intervals throughout the day, and in the evening, and . . . Well, he had to admit, his appetite was rather prodigious. 

Now, he settled in to hunt, only to be distracted by first one odd scent, then another. He sat back on his haunches, puzzled. Tempting, but not food. Alluring, but not nourishment, at least not of the usual kind. What . . .??? Faint almost-memories drew him to the far side of the grasslands, to lift his long nose into the air, to draw in that scent, then to climb a rise, searching for the source.

***  
She awoke, stretched, looked around in bewilderment. She wasn't frightened, just gently bemused at the unknown landscape. She shook herself briskly, stretched in preparation for the day to come. 

Well, she didn't have time to lounge around, to browse; she had that which she was meant to find. No, she didn't know what that was, but that was often the way, she seemed to remember. She would know it when she found it; that was all she needed to know. So she stretched once more, and loped off across the grasslands, looking for that which was her destiny.

***  
He'd had trouble awakening, which wasn't like him. At least, he didn't THINK it was like him. It seemed he remembered having trouble sleeping, not awakening. And, for once, he didn't have a plan. That really seemed odd; didn't he always have a plan? 

Now, all he had was a yearning, a deep, piercing need that seemed to fill him, call him to action, but with far too little in the way of guidance as to what action was needed. Maybe it would come to him once he got moving. The forest lay behind him, the grasslands before him. As if drawn by some invisible force, he turned toward the grasslands and let his instincts guide him.

***  
He'd made his way to top of the rise, looking down into the meadow below. The scent was coming from there. No, not one scent, but two, both drawing him onward, rich, tantalizing, both making his mouth water in anticipation. The far off scent of a prey animal distracted him momentarily, but only that; this, these were far more important than breakfast. {"And don't THAT seem odd!"} 

What was calling to him, that was life itself.

He caught a glimpse of red fur to the far right side, of golden fur to the left, and wondered which he should go to first. His jaws gaped into a wide smile when he realized he didn't have to choose, they were both coming to him, just as it should be. A faint thought teased at him, {"as it always WILL be."}

He sat back on his haunches, waited, eagerly, hungrily, while the two who formed the other parts of his being dashed up the hill, knocking him sprawling with their eager greetings, laving his muzzle, his long fur-covered ears with their warm moist tongues. 

He stretched, watched the fur start to disappear, feeling that wiry body form, the one he'd worn before, at least once anyway, though he thought perhaps several times. With an eager grin he watched the body closest to him as the red fur disappeared, revealing a pale female form with tumbling red hair. They both waited, impatiently, while the other, the male with the golden fur tried to figure out what to do next; well, for him, this was the first time at the process. Finally, it seemed to come together, and then with a rush, a laughing man with gold-blond hair and green eyes lay in front of them, and they hurried to make him welcome.

Later, after the loving, after the hunting out a substantial breakfast of berries and fruit, once again fur-clad, they would start the search for their own place, a place to share. It would take time, for that, for discovering their roles in this new life. He knew there was no hurry, was content to take things as they came. He was whole again; THEY were one again, as it was meant to be. And he had the oddest feeling, like there were others waiting as well, others meant to join them, become family, and perhaps not for the first time. 

Well, all in due time. If he wasn't mistaken, it was going to be time to stop for the mid-day meal soon. Maybe a mid-morning snack?? Wait, was that a rabbit???


End file.
